A young girl invents a story and a community goes on the warpath, seeing evil wherever they look and doing everything within their power to keep it at bay. That's the basic story behind the Salem witch trials, of course, but it's also the foundation for the sobering but affecting drama "The Hunt," a modern spin on those age-old -- but still sadly relevant -- events, starring Mads Mikkelsen and opening today (Aug. 16) at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center for a weeklong run.

Granted, revisiting the witch trials isn't exactly an original idea, but it's effectively done here, as director Thomas Vinterberg's film -- boasting a smart and engrossing script, and a slowly building tension that blossoms to a piano-string tautness -- benefits greatly from strong performances, particularly from Mikkelsen, who has a wonderful way of doing so much even when saying so little.

He plays Lucas, the character on the hot seat in Vinterberg's film. He's a teacher at a Danish kindergarten, and his life begins to unravel when a young student tells another teacher that Lucas molested her.

Nobody who knows Lucas wants to believe that he's capable of such things. He is a good and decent man, and has never given anyone reason to think anything otherwise. But as parents and teachers they have to take the child's claims seriously. After all, the safety of the children comes first. Plus, why would she lie? And how would she otherwise even know the details of such grown-up matters?

When things begin to snowball, however, any ideas of fairness and presumption of innocence go out the window as Lucas is tried and convicted overnight in the court of public opinion.

It's every man's nightmare, really -- and Vinterberg mines it to create a gripping exploration of mob mentality, but also of the irreparable damage that can be done through the insidious nature of fear.

"The Hunt" is not, in other words, a shiny, happy slice of optimistic cinema. But, imbued as it is with a sense of discomforting truth, it is a worthwhile examination of human nature -- and one with a message well worth heeding.